Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Imperial Guard Tactics: Master of Ordnance


The Master of Ordnance is a controversial unit for guard players, many think he is worthless and others really like him.  I will admit I have been on the fence about him, but as I have used him more and more I have found the MoO to be an invaluable unit if used the right way.  What you get for 30 points is a S9 AP3 barrage with unlimited range.  That is the first thing that is nice about him, anywhere on the board can be hit, line of sight or no.  Now where he comes into the down side is that he scatters, alot.  If a hit is rolled, he still scatters that distance, if an arrow you roll another D6, for a 3D6 scater and with only BS4 that is hard to counter that potential for large scatter.  But as I have found out, there are ways to make him more effective and lets be honest, your getting a basilisk for 30 pts. 


Now one great way to use the MoO is in pairs, the "downside" being you have to take two company command squads.  This IMO is not a bad thing, and at 30 pts you can easily take two without losing a huge portion of your army.  This actually opens your army up more, as you no longer need to take basilisks or leman russes for your heavy pie plates.  And the other adavantage is that MoO can be affected by orders.  Now some may not like placing your trust in these guys, but in general if they are not targeted directly, they will survive much longer than most basilisks or other heavy hitters.  He can be hidden and with other targets in your command squad, others will often take the brunt of fire before he does.  When you are dropping a minimum of two pie plates a turn, its hard to miss and not see those affects.  It also maximizes the number of ordes you have to use because of the extra command squad.  Now this works well with infantry heavy lists, but I would not recommend going double if you are going armor heavy or plan on moving around a lot. 

To get the most out of him and have a master of ordnance and not a master of misses, you have to do a couple of things.   One is to use him with line of sight as much as possible, and Two, take advantage of orders to increase his chances of either hitting or wounding.  The first seems pretty simple, but it can be easy to fall into the habit of using him against models out of line of sight, but this removes the two things you need for him to be effective: Line of Sight to reduce scatter with BS, and orders that require LoS to be used.  Simply put he can be quite accurate against MCs and vehicles, because of Fire on My Target, this means you can reroll and you can use this multiple ways.  I have found that reroll to be key, being able to turn a complete miss into at least a partial. This is even better against vehicles because as long as the blast is partially touching it takes a hit.  Most of the time you'll hit on side armor too because of barrage.  With two dice for armor pen and taking the highest, you have a high chance of penetrating most targets.  Many in the game have side armor 10 or 11, and a few 12, then there are the big ones with 13 and 14 that you should ignore unless its all you have.  Last game I played I destroyed a vindicator and destroyed the missiles on a whirlwind first turn, neutralizing my opponents two major hitters.  I was lucky and had line of sight, the whirlwind could be seen through a window.  Even though my opponent thought he was safe behind a building, he neglected to make sure that there was no LoS to my units and my MoO brought it down right on top of it and took the whirlwind out of the game.  This is why it is critical to use them with LoS and orders.

The art of getting use out of him is choosing your targets carefully and mitigating the weaknesses that he has.  Namely his scatter, because when he wants to, he scatters a lot.  Now a great way to use him is to targe a vehicle, esp the transport of a squad that just disembarked, and use the vehicle to gain twin linked through orders and walk to large blast off the vehicle onto the squad and get both.  Now you will only rarelyget both the vehicle and the whole squad.  But you can take out the transport and a number of the squad with one blast.  The reroll gives you higher chances of getting the result you want.  The thing to remember that you don't need the blast to scatter directly off, just in the general direction of the squad.  This is still chance, but you have rerolls and that is a good thing.  This also works great on MCs as they are generally smaller base wise and you will have units closer and therefore a higher chance of getting units under that pie plate. 

Where he can also be great is in killing squadrons of vehicles, esp weak ones and take advantage of the large blast, barrage, and ordnance.  With twin linked you reduce your scatter and if you score three hits, you are almost guaranteed three pens againts weak vehicles.  Don't use him against heavy vehicles like land raiders, unless that all you have left to shoot at it, with only ap 3 you need  a natural six to destroy it and a six to pen, counting on a lot of luck is not how you win battles.  Save melta guns for those, take the auto kills for the MoO when you can.

Against infantry, he is great when he works.  But since you cannot twin link him againts infantry the best bet is to target vehicles that are close and get the infantry in the blast as well.   He can be good against large or spread out squads, where you have more room to play with in scatter.  This is another reason to take two, the chances of you hitting and causing the damage you want goes up when you have a back up, if the first scatters 18 inches, you have the second one to make up for the first ones miss.  Now also pay attention to the units around it and not just the one you are targeting.  If you target a unit that has multiple units around it, preferably all around it if you are lucky, you have given yourself a guaranteed hit.  It may not be the unit you target, but with S9 AP3, most of the time things are dieing. 

I have grown to love these guys and the more I use them the better they are.  Their low points cost is their huge selling point.  What they allow me is freedom to take more infantry or other units and not to worry about taking an expensive heavy hitter to counter MEQ and other heavy armored units.  Plus it is fluffy with my Infantry IG army.  Having no armor or artillery in my army, I still need heavy hitters though to cause mass casualties.  MoO give me that.  I would recomend them to every IG army that plans on having a sizeable portion of infantry.

Well what do you guard generals think.  I know I think he is worth it.  Let me know of other ways you have used this guy to get around his lack of accuracy.

GG

17 comments:

  1. Agreed he is wonderful for the points! Last game I used him he destroyed a Chaos Landraider, a Predator, a Rhino and squad of Raptors there was a lot of luck in that but still for 30 points he is not to be underestimated!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, they really can be devestating when they hit. Granted the dice gods favor is helpful in this regard, but you can improve the odds. Can use BiD on three of the four of those units to improve your accuracy. Its great when the enemy realizes how much hurt they bring too late

      Delete
  2. I never thought about give MoO a BiD order, that's a very good idea.
    At start, I was a huge fan of MoO (Basilisk for 30pts), even he kills only 2 Marines, he has done its job.

    My main concern is the nature of the CCS itself.
    Moreover, if you take 2 CCS, it means, that your warlord is a Company Commander.
    In a lot of missions, "Slay the Warlord" will be very well-rewarded .
    A Company Commander is not an IC (only 4+ LOS!) and has only T3 (easy Instant Death).
    So, your CCS will be a major target (moreover if it has a MoO inside it), which mean you will have to move to hide (so no MoO during movement). (in a lesser extent, you might also need to move to have LoS for orders)

    So, does MoO means Landing Pad or Bastion?

    And, really, the CCS can pack 4 special weapons, is it not its main purpose?
    Lord Commissar in a blob as the warlord, and CCS with 4 PG and 1 plasma gunslinger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You do have to build the CCS with the MoO in mind and how you want to play your army. But since you still have veterans, you can still give them specail and heavy weapons, something like a flamer is not the best combo to go with him. And IMO the CCS is not to have 4 weapons, it is there to issue orders and plug up critical points in your line if needed, special weapons help it do that.

      I take an aegis and find it very useful. The landing pad is another great choice because it is an invulnerable save not a cover. But downside is you can't improve that by going to ground. Bastion gives you a posible 2+ cover but this can be ignored by a lot of things as well. It depends how you like to play. For me the aegis is what I like, it gives me a solid base for my army and some AA, a decent cover save and I can fit a good portion of my infantry behind it. I have 5 vet squads and a 25 man platoon counting the PCS, so I need the oders and the line to get those guys into cover. If you are playing a more mobile army I would go with the bastion, you can go inside if you need to and still fire out.

      Delete
    2. Thank you for your answer.

      I'm very interested on how you customize your CCS with a MoO.

      And where do you place your CCS to protect it?
      Just behind the Aegis for the 2+ with GtG or hidden of LoS by mass body?

      Delete
    3. No prob, well my main squad has Creed, MoO, Vox, Standard, Medic, MoO, Astropath, body guard, and last veteran takes a special weapon.

      My second CCS has an Officer with P pistol, 3 p guns, vox, MoO

      I place them in complementary positions on my line, so they can get the whole army under the command radius and can still support each other if needed. Preferably I get them into ruins or behind the aegis in some area terrain. It depends who I am playing against. If they don't have a lot of barrage or ignores cover, then I will place them behind the aegis. If they do i try and place them so they are blocked by LOS to those heavy hitters.

      Delete
  3. Well in my opinion if you take the MoO you need to give the squad a Chimera for protection. With the amount of high Strength ignores cover in recent books I've given up running CSS on foot in anything bigger then 750pts, it's no help that the local meta has a fair number of Tau and Eldar.

    Also a little know fact, the MoO is actually a character, has a 4+ look out sir and can accept or issue challenges. Makes for some funny surprises if you have the points to give the commander a power fist.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes he is, it can prove useful, though I haven't had the oportunity to take advantage of it yet. Well I'm not so sure on the Chimera in that it is needed. It is be no means a bad option.

      I run two CCS with MoO at 1850, I have an all infantry army with 2 vendettas, and with good deployment and placement I have little issue with them surviving. Now if someone wants them dead, they are going to die, which I would say is true of anything in the game.

      I don't run chimera's because my army is all infantry and operates closely with the imperial navy(cadian drop troops) per my army's fluff. But they are a great option, just make sure you have other things tobe shot at cause a lone chimera doesn't last long.

      Delete
    2. Grumpy, I think you did not insist enough about the major problem of MoO.
      It's Ordnance, so can not be fire while moving.
      So, in the case of MoO and Chimera, you won't be able to move with the Chimera, so not sure if it's a good idea.

      Delete
    3. Zero, that is not neccessarily true. A Chimera can be used as a bunker and is very good at this with the ability of 5 models being able to shoot from the top hatch and it being a command vehicle. Using the right terrain you can hide the chimera behind LOS blocking terrain but still have models able to see out of the top hatch. You do have to be more thoughtful in where you place it, but its a good bunker that can at least save your CCS from some heavy shots for a turn. Plus if you have to move, you can get there quick.

      Delete
  4. Exactly, but it's going to be meta dependant.
    I'm facing lots of Tau as well as Eldar with Serpents, there the Chimera bunker is invaluable, since S7 with ignores cover and 36 or longer range is not something you want hitting a CSS.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is def dependent. But I do think the dismounted works too, you just have to play carefully. I make sure to use terrain for blocking LOS to units I don't want shooting at my CCS, but leave them in a position where they can see the unit I want the MoO to hit. Its not always feasible and is very terrain dependent, but It works pretty well for me. I like to dangle other units that seem scarier out there in front of them, make them the obvious target. They use the shield on that squad witht the lascannon, then the MoO blasts them away the following turn unmolested. You want to make your opponent believe the units you want them to target are your most dangerous while the ones you really are going to use you down play

      Delete
  5. I tried using a MoO once before, but was not happy and thus, never used him again. Your article though made a couple of very useful points that has now inspired me to try. The BiD order was something I had never considered and taking two....well that's just nasty - I like it.

    With that in mind, would like your opinion on three more additions to a list: 1 - Manticore. 2 - Marbo. 3 - Artillery squadron of 1 Grffon and two Baskilisks (the Griffon in effect gives me the same as BiD without the need to target a vehicle or MC. This effectively gives me a fair number of pie plates to throw down.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BiD really makes the MoO useful. I played a game yesterday, there was a rhino and around it were a couple of combat squads and a few GK squads. I BiD on the rhino, first scatter missed the troops, second scatter went right into a GK squad and killed three of the five. They are very good when used right.

      Well I love marbo and if you aren't taking him well why not, he is great, just accept he is going to die. Against Tau you have to be careful with all their interceptor, make use of LoS blocking terrain, have to position him where he can surrive, or use him as a decoy to draw their fire and save your army a turn of shooting. Manticoe is good if you don't want to go all in with artillery, otherwise I would bring a battery with griffons. I would swap the basilisks for the other one that is S6 AP3 and ignores cover, you'll get a lot of use out of the ignores cover. I think the griffon and basilisk's don't mesh well as the griffon and basilisks hurt different targets, so one is going to be less useful. Plus have ignores cover with ap 3 is devestating, can show the tau how it feels.

      Delete
    2. So the other one that I mentioned is the Colossus siege mortar, that is what you should pair with your Griffon. This will maximize your effectiveness and punish anything but termies. You lose some strength but gaining an AP3 ignores cover is huge. I personally believe in specializing when it comes to units, and by throwing the griffon in with basilisks I feel you will be losing the effectiveness with the unit with them having different roles. And with most infantry you will still be wounding on 2s with the Colossus. Go with that. Or go with 3 Basilisks, the griffon can work with them but I feel you will get more utility keeping it pure.

      Delete
  6. I managed to get a game in yesterday with the list. I had the Griffon and two Colossus Siege Mortars along with the Manticore and 3 Chimeras. The rest was feet on the ground (114 models at 1850 points). My opponent had horde Orks and I still out numbered him :). I suspect if it hadn’t been for my poor deployment, I would have won. Put the arty and Manticore close together. Was a fun game and will persevere with the list for a few more games as I feel it has real potential. Cheers for the idea of using two MoO and BiD together.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes deployment is so important to get right, def an art form. Well I am glad that my ideas help out and spark your own inspiration. That seems like a good list, can't go wrong when you out number orks XD. Yeah you should keep at it, get a feel for it, MoO take some playing to get used to but BiD helps so much for them. Feel free to post or email me your list. I love seeing other guard lists, great to see what other people make of the IG.

      Delete